‘No decisions’ on COVID-19 boosters for Alberta kids 5-11 ahead of school year

Children’s Tylenol, Advil shortage in Alberta attributed to summer COVID infections And the seven-day average positivity rates on PCR tests was effectively flat at 21.9 per cent.

PCR tests have been restricted to individuals who live or work in clinical high-risk settings for most of 2022.On Friday, Health Canada approved booster doses for children aged five to 11, with the National Advisory Community on Immunization (NACI) recommending children in that cohort to get vaccinated with a third dose six months after their second “in the context of heightened epidemiological risk.”On Tuesday, the Alberta government told Global News the province is reviewing Health Canada’s decision and NACI’s recommendation.“No decisions have been made yet,” a health ministry spokesperson wrote in an email. “Once a decision has been made, the specific details around timing and availability will be shared publicly.”According to provincial data, only 37 per cent of kids aged five to 11 completed a primary series of two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Alberta.

As of Aug. 14, 42.4 per cent of Canadian kids in the same age range have received two doses.Classes are likely to look different in Alberta this upcoming school year, after the province dropped its mask mandate in the spring.“Mask mandates are not under consideration,” Alberta Education spokesperson Katherine Stavropoulos wrote to Global News, adding “the fulsome return to class within a normal education setting is paramount for our children.”A recent preprint study of the effects of the dropping of in-school mask mandates in and around Boston, Massachusetts showed while the mandates were in place, there was little difference in transmission rates between school districts.